25 Colored Pencil Artists Worth A Follow On Instagram
Traditional mediums like colored pencil really have their own gorgeous flair. And you can find dozens of talented artists from all walks of life who specialize in colored pencil art.
If you’ve ever wanted to start drawing with colored pencils then this list is sure to leave you inspired.
I’ve curated 25 of the most creative colored pencil artists from Instagram all with different backgrounds and styles in their art. Whether you’re a new artist or a seasoned pro with years of experience, this list is sure to have plenty to catch your attention.
1. Birdy C.
Out of all the artists in this list I have to say @itsbirdy is my favorite. And let me say it’s a tough decision.
Maybe it’s the art style or the creative reworking of various Pokémon. But gosh darnit, this Instagram is phenomenal!
And it seems many others feel the same way since he has over 460k followers at the time of this writing. Easily one of the largest accounts in this entire list.
But one look over his work and you’ll see why—especially if you’re a big Pokémon fan.
2. Morgan Davidson
Another crazy colored pencil artist I highly recommend is @morgandavidson.
Her work is much more “out there” in subject matter, yet it feels just as creative and grounded as anyone else here.
The coolest thing about her artwork is the brilliant use of color and how it practically pops off the page. You’ll find a lot of cool drawings from portraits to animals, flowers, basically everything.
3. Vince Okerman
Vince Okerman is the artist behind @vexx, a popular Instagram account showcasing his foray into the world of traditional art.
The vast majority of his posts are in colored pencil and they often feature imaginary ideas or creatures brought to life. But there’s also plenty of wild cartoon-style artwork mixed in.
Have a peek at his account and see what you think.
There’s a good variety here with plenty of finished pieces to satisfy anyone’s creative curiosity.
4. Hakan Gürsu
Hakan Gürsu is a professional industrial designer and teacher at the METU Dept of Industrial Design in Ankara.
And one glance over his Instagram account will leave you floored.
There’s so much technical prowess and attention to detail in every single drawing. This whole page will leave you salivating for more.
This is the kind of work that a technical draftsman could only dream of making.
And it’s especially inspiring to anyone who wants to do drafting-type work in the entertainment industry. Jobs like 3D modeling and storyboarding come to mind.
But spend a few minutes looking through his work and see what you can find.
5. @_artistiq
The mysteriously named Instagram account @_artistiq does celebrity portraits in colored pencil.
In fact, they draw a lot of ‘em! Pushing almost 300 at the time of this writing with plenty of room for more.
The artist updates 1-2 times per month and doesn’t always update every month. So you won’t find fresh work uploaded frequently.
Yet it’s still a great account to follow if you love celebrity portraits using colored pencils or otherwise.
6. Paul Miller
Skilled self-taught artist Paul Miller frequently draws wildlife and various animals on his Instagram account @paulmillerwildlifeart.
And these drawings are truly captivating.
Most of them are done on toned paper so you can really see the color values stand out against the darker background.
You might even try this style yourself with a toned sketchbook and your own set of colored pencils.
Still it’ll take quite a few years of practice to reach Paul’s level.
7. Cassidy Packard
There’s one crazy thing about @drawings_by_cass that you would never guess just by looking at her work.
Cassidy is only 15 years old at the time of this writing. Yet many of her drawings feel so fresh and powerful, like they came from the hands of a skilled artist with decades of practice.
Naturally there is plenty of room to grow and you’ll find some pieces that have some oddities. Yet for her age this is really cool stuff.
You’ll find a lot of content that’s truly inspiring and just downright amazing. Give her a follow if you want to keep up with all her progress in the coming years.
8. @jamawu
The single name of Jacqueline labels this account and leaves you wondering just who is behind all this incredible artwork.
You can see some of her colored pencil works @jamawu which includes animals, buildings, scenery, and even various objects like fruits.
Best of all Jacqueline recently started a YouTube channel showing how to work in colored pencil and how to draw still lifes. Pretty cool!
I really enjoy her work on Instagram and if you agree then give her a follow. Maybe even add her YouTube into your list of art YouTube channels worth subscribing to.
9. Kelly Lahar
The brilliant portrait artist Kelly Lahar specializes in colored pencil work and does lots of animal drawings.
Her Instagram account @kellylahar gets updated regularly and it’s a pretty popular one for colored pencil drawings. In fact, it currently sits at 305k followers and counting.
Many of her drawings are progress shots where you can see the work as it’s being completed. This offers some neat insight towards how she works and what she does.
And if you really love her work try picking up some of her prints from Etsy.
10. Alina Kachur-Bogachuk
Alina Kachur-Bogachuk runs her own art-specific account @leiartista which just focuses on her drawings.
That’s one thing I really appreciate: when artists keep their personal IGs separate from their art accounts. It makes browsing through photos a lot more fun!
And Alina’s work truly is fun with colored pencil drawings of hot cocoa and various portraits along with tons of abstract work.
If you dig this kinda work then definitely give a quick follow.
11. Jessica Xu
Artist Jessica Xu has a lot of variety in her Instagram account. But most of the work revolves around traditional dry mediums like colored pencil.
You can see her work @artisticbunny and there’s a lot of work to see. Drawings of whales, birds, people, you name it.
Some of these pictures do include a good mix of watercolors or similar paintings but there’s just as many dry pieces to go around.
Jessica’s account is pretty varied but I think any creative artist will enjoy her pieces.
12. Robin Gan
If you’re looking for some photorealist work done in colored pencil then have a look at @robingan on Instagram.
Totaling 32k followers and pushing 200+ photos there’s clearly many people who love Robin’s work. The photorealism truly is astounding and many of these pictures could be mistaken for photographs.
Well, except for the colored pencils lying just out of frame.
And there’s tons of quirky subjects from ostrich heads to dogs with Halloween hats and plenty more you could never imagine.
13. Lie Hong
Lie Hong specializes in colored pencil drawings and specifically does a ton of celebrity portraits.
These all focus on realism and aim to look as realistic as possible, yet still retain a semblance of artistic style in each design.
Check out @liehong79 to have a gander at Lie’s work and see what you think.
Not everyone cares for celebrity drawings but these are some of the best I’ve seen in colored pencil.
14. Benjamin Hepton
UK-based illustrator Benjamin Hepton runs a really nice Instagram account @benjaminhepton full of colored pencil drawings.
Ben is a digital designer and illustrator by trade so he’s got plenty of work to share. But I find most of his colored pencil drawings are pretty simple and mostly done for practice pieces.
Still there’s a lotta cool stuff here with seahorses, latte’s, ice cream cones and even cheese platters.
Quite an eclectic mix but hey, that’s art!
15. Rob Bateman
Rob Bateman is yet another UK-based artist with a focus on pencil work. He does a lot of graphite drawings(including colored pencil work) but also does some charcoal work too.
On his Instagram @robertbatemanart you can find a whole slew of photorealistic pieces.
These include plenty of portraits and some really nice animal drawings.
Rob shares a few photos for each piece detailing his process from idea to completion. This gives you look behind the scenes to see how his projects lead into a finished piece.
16. Larissa Ria Loomans
Larissa Ria Loomans may be one of the more prolific artists in this list with over 550 posts as of this writing.
You can see her work @rissa_ria including plenty of colored pencil drawings and quick sketches.
The majority of her posts are finished pieces and they vary drastically in different topics like cartoon animals or colorful feathers.
Either way a pretty creative lady and if you dig the colored pencil stuff on her profile then give her a follow to keep up with new posts.
17. Anya Timoshenko
Ukrainian artist Anya Timoshenko does a ton of really crazy photorealistic drawings with colored pencil. None of these look like photos because of the backgrounds, yet they’re finely rendered with so much attention to detail.
You can follow her account @annatimoshenkoart which as of this writing only has about 300 followers.
But it also seems pretty new given she’s only published about 15 images.
If she keeps releasing more amazing colored pencil sketches her follower count is guaranteed to skyrocket.
18. Tom Chanth
French artist Tom Chanth runs his own art Instagram account @tom_chanth_art totally opposite his personal account.
And this is one of the best IG’s out there for cultural colored pencil work. Tom does a lot of drawings featuring popular characters from movies and comic books with plenty of pop culture references in his work.
His stuff almost feels legendary in the sense that it really stands out from the crowd.
If you dig superheroes and Marvel/DC comics then you’ll certainly enjoy his frequent posts.
19. Laëtitia
Here’s another French artist with a totally different approach to colored pencils.
Laëtitia, under the username @ltia_chan posts lots of princess drawings and Disney characters all drawn using colored pencils.
The art style is pretty simple and follows more of the anime style we know from Japanese pop culture.
Still her work appeals to a good amount of people since she already has 19k followers as of this writing.
20. Jenni Tomzinski
For a walk on the wild side have a look at the artwork by @jenniiiiit.
Her name is Jenni Tomzinski and she does a ton of work in pencil.
Much of the stuff she posts is actually done with just value(black & white. But there is a good mix of colored pencil stuff in here too.
And you can see many of her projects in stages with multiple photos from early sketches all the way to completion.
A really fun art account with plenty of colored pencil inspiration to go around.
21. @drawingsbyannak
The Finnish Instagram account @drawingsbyannak features some pretty weird colored pencil drawings. In fact, I’m not even sure how to describe these using words.
You’ll find lots of eyes. But the pupils are replaced by… emojis? Yeah I’m not sure. But it’s gosh darn captivating.
There’s also lots of bright objects and fantasy drawings from princesses to fairies and mythical creatures.
Check out her work and see what you think. Again, not for everyone but there’s definitely an audience for this type of art.
22. Mário Freire
Artist Mário Freire draws lots of inspiration from pop culture like old movies and TV shows.
In his Instagram account @marioafreire you’ll find 500+ photos of various colored pencil drawings from Terminator to the old Batman show starring Adam West.
There’s also a lot of photos of of other artists drawing similar works all posted to this one account. So it’s really a smorgasbord of colored pencil drawings to get you hyped and start drawing on your own.
23. Aleksandar Ilić
Serbian portrait artist Aleksandar Ilić works frequently in dry mediums like colored pencils.
You can follow his artwork on Instagram @aleksandar94art and check out his massive archive of almost 1,000 posts. Naturally this has earned him a pretty large following of 157k people and counting.
But most of his artwork does come in black and white so it may not be as colorful as you’d be expecting.
Still the technical prowess stands on its own so anyone who loves working in graphite will really enjoy browsing through his profile.
24. Adam Bettley
Adam Bettley is another large Instagram account with followers totaling into the six figures(over 140k).
You can see his work @adbettley and you’ll notice right away there’s a lot of pop culture characters here.
This is a very popular focus for artists who draw for fun because there’s a huge demand from the fanbases of these movies and shows.
But you’ll notice these aren’t just generic copy machine-type drawings from movies.
Adam really has a unique style all his own that shines through in every piece.
25. Kristina Webb
Kristina Webb is a brilliant artist based out of New Zealand who does a lot of quirky and creative colored pencil drawings.
You can find her on Instagram @colour_me_creative with a massive account of almost 2 million followers. Holy smokes!
She’s actually one of the more famous artists on Instagram so you may already know about her stuff.
A lot of her work is abstract and some is quite introspective with light social commentary. This has brought about a tremendous social following which even lead to her publishing a book on her life, upbringing, and her passion for art.
Now these are just some of the profiles I recommend following but you can always search for more on Instagram to see what else you can find.
And make sure once you’re done flipping through photos that you sit down and make some awesome colored pencil drawings to call your own.
